Ontario Quick Refrigerator Pickles

"I don't want a pickle, just want to ride my motorsickle." Arlo Guthrie

 

Hiya followers! If you live anywhere close to Georgetown, Ontario, make sure to check out my website and sign up to one of my cooking demonstrations! You can either come out to The Carter Farm Market located in Norval, Ontario, or I will come out to your house for a private demo!
www.sarahsculinaryadventure.com

 



 

Well, I'm back again with a simple and tasty recipe for quick refrigerator pickles. I never even knew such a thing existed until this time last year. Quick pickles are pickles that are made in a bowl or jar and kept in the fridge. No need for sterilizing, canning or fussing! This is the easiest method to make pickles and they are ready to taste in one day (although I feel they are better at one week old) and keep in the fridge for up to six weeks. As I mentioned earlier, I did try to make these last year, but I failed miserably! Ha! At the time I figured hey, the more garlic the better, right?! Wrong! My pickles were SO strong in flavor, I had to toss them. So, today I got out that old recipe and refined it and now I know we have a winner! Let's do this...

 

Simple and Tasty Recipe:

 

Ontario Quick Refrigerator Pickles

(makes 20 to 24 pickles)

 

5 to 6 Kirby cucmbers (the small pickling ones), sliced lengthwise into quarters 

2 to 3 sprigs of fresh dill

1/4 tsp each mustard seed, fennel seed and coriander seed

10 to 12 whole peppercorns (any colour, I used red and black)

1 bay leaf

1 3/4 cups white vinegar

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

4 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 salt, Kosher, sea or pickling

 

Wash and dry a medium sized non reaction bowl or jar (the one I used was a 900 ml jar). In the bowl or jar, place the dill sprigs, the spices and bay leaf and the cucumber slices.

In a non reactive sauce pot, combine the vinegar, garlic slices, sugar and salt, stirring until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Heat on high and bring to a boil and turn off.

Pour over the heated vinegar mixture over the cucumbers, making sure they are covered (you may need to heat and pour over a little more vinegar to do this).

Set aside, uncovered, until the liquid is cooled, cover and refrigerate for up to 6 weeks, enjoy!

 

See?! I told you it was easy! Now, my taste is most likely not the same as yours, but use this as a base and get creative! You can add more salt (a little at a time), more sugar, more garlic (one clove at a time!), dill or spices. Try using tarragon instead of dill, adding chili flakes or heck, you can even change up the veggies...

 

As you can see, for this jar of quick pickles, I threw caution to the wind and added Ontario cauliflower and carrots, using the exact same herbs, spices and liquid as the cucumber pickles. For this, I measured 2 generous cups of the sliced veggies and continued as above. Yum!

Bye for now and I'll be back very soon with a great Thanksgiving side dish!